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Don Dunham Jr. talks in his office in March 2006 about the 30th anniversary of his company. / Argus Leader file photo

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The vibrant city center and residential and commercial development spreading through Sioux Falls in all directions represents an expansive vision and the payoff on some daunting risk.

One of the key developers who had the temerity to push his chips to the center of the table and make the big bets the past three decades — resulting in the Sioux Falls of today — died suddenly Saturday.

Don Dunham Jr., 70, died after complications of surgery at Avera McKennan Hospital, according to John Archer, a family spokesman and Dunham’s lawyer. Dunham had abdominal surgery about a week ago and was being treated for a couple of medical conditions. These were not considered life-threatening, Archer said.

“He was doing fine. He had a great day yesterday. Something turned this morning,” Archer said late Saturday.

Dunham’s legacy in Sioux Falls exists not only in the brick and mortar his company built but in an attitude he conveyed to others that Sioux Falls was a good bet.

“He was an experimenter and innovator. He brought new dynamics to the real estate industry in Sioux Falls,” said South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner and former Sioux Falls Mayor Gary Hanson.

'He was a pioneer'

Archer noted Dunham was the first developer to use tax increment financing in Sioux Falls, in the Shriver Square development in the mid-1990s, and the first in the state to do a rent-to-own residential development, Homestead Trails, in 1997.

“He was a pioneer. Don could see things that nobody else could see,” Archer said.

“People need to understand developers like Don Dunham take huge risks and make these gambles in their quest to really help others realize their American dream,” added Mayor Mike Huether. He called Dunham’s broad legacy of real estate development “his way to be a public servant.”

Minnehaha County Commissioner Dick Kelly, who knew Dunham for 35 years, tells a story about his boldness. “They used to say Don was not afraid to borrow anything. He’d sign anything to get the job done.”

Dunham, who was born on a Union County farm east of Vermillion, embarked on a real estate career after 17 years in the U.S. Navy. He founded Dunham Homes, specializing in new construction housing, in 1975. In 1977, it grew into Dunham Co., incorporating commercial sales and leasing, property management and construction services.

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Dunham and a contemporary, Craig Lloyd, were forged in the crucible of the economic recession of 1981-82, “which I always say is worse than the one we just went through,” Lloyd said. “He survived that and took over impossible projects from banks that couldn’t figure how to make them work.”

Defying mall trend

Nowhere did this have a greater influence in Sioux Falls than downtown. In an era when The Empire Mall had become the city’s retail mecca and buildings downtown were closing, Dunham turned the legacy Shriver building at 230 S. Phillips Ave. into the Shriver Square retail and residential development. He built the Commerce Center at Eighth Street and Phillips Avenue “when everybody said going north of Eighth Street was crazy,” according to Lloyd.

“He’s the one who took the first chances downtown. He made it possible for people like us to come downtown and get financing because of his successes,” Lloyd said.

Former Mayor Dave Munson said Dunham “was the person who made downtown. He took risks when no one else would. ... He was a strong voice for making us believe in the future for Sioux Falls.”

Dunham’s belief downtown had a future helped set the character of the city center. Hanson calls him “a mover and shaker who certainly changed the skyline of Sioux Falls,” and Kelly said Dunham was central to downtown’s ressurrection because his actions matched his vision.

“Not very many people not only think of something but do it. From that standpoint, he was a real blessing to Sioux Falls,” Kelly said.

“The community loses a person like that, they lose a lot.”

The Dunham Co., through a subsidiary founded in 1982, has supervised and managed more than $100 million in construction projects. Dunham built more than 1,000 apartment units and more than 400 townhouses and condominiums. He launched residential and commercial real estate ventures in Dakota Dunes, Elk Point, Yankton, Vermillion, North Sioux City and Watertown in addition to Sioux Falls. He developed 22 restaurants in partnership with Granite City Food and Brewery, and he owned the Gold Dust Casino in Deadwood.

Building from decay

Huether said Dunham’s belief in an ability to create opportunity where others saw decline was as strong now as when he turned his eye toward downtown three decades ago. In his ongoing Costo Project at 41st Street and Grange Avenue and in an affordable housing project on North Cliff Avenue, Dunham “was looking at areas of town that really everybody else had given up on,” the mayor said. “He was taking these old, contaminated brownfields, and he was making good stuff happen.”

From his perspective as a fellow developer, Lloyd calls Dunham “one in a lifetime. I got to meet him and know him. It was rewarding to call him a friend. I lost a really good friend.”